Twice Lucky: Time for a change
by Evilclone
Summary: Complete: The second part of Twice Lucky, the only trouble is, Xander has a lesson to learn, absolute power corrupts absolutely. Chapter 12 now up.
1. Introduction

This is it, part two of my Twice Lucky series. Things will slow down for a little while, while my beat plods through my work, in between real life and me inundating with chapter after chapter she's gotten pushed back a little. Enjoy!

"For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers,  
against the rulers of the darkness of this world." - Ephesians 6:12


	2. The Kindness of Strangers

Twice Lucky

Time for a Change

Chapter 1: The Kindness of Strangers

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

1997

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

There were things, events that Xander Harris, with his future knowledge, could prepare for; certain things that he could deal with discreetly enough that wouldn't affect the flow of events around them. And yet, there were other things that he couldn't solve through violence, or even misdirection.

Xander was musing on the events, the changes he was creating to the timeline: Spike and Dru were still out there, and still a threat; the Judge had yet to surface, as had Acthala and even Glory.

And then, there was the more mundane part of his life. He was keeping the girls happy on so many levels; as well as keeping his school grades up, which would help when he left school. But, what of afterwards - in fighting the good fight - he'd gotten caught up in the moment and had not really thought about afterwards?

In the previous timeline, he'd been shunted off to Africa to help out with the situation there. Sure, he'd met and made friends with various tribes; he'd even found a few Slayers and had started training them. But, ultimately, he'd felt unfulfilled.

No, his 'friends' in the previous timeline hadn't contacted him; Buffy had disappeared, Faith had gone to prison and Willow had been, well, Willow. She'd been eternally sad since Tara's death. The only one who'd bothered to keep contact was Dawn, and even she hadn't been created yet. He wanted to do something different this time; remembering that he had told Willow that he'd liked flying. Perhaps he could do something commercial, but that didn't appeal to him. Not enough action.

The thought of joining the Air Force still tugged at him; he'd always, as a kid, wanted to be fighter pilot; a Maverick, like Tom Cruise.

That had been why Willow had found him looking at leaflets that time. There were plenty of choices: the Marines, even the Navy. But the Marines would probably notice something was up, especially with his strength and speed. The Air Force, for the moment, seemed like the safest - and easiest - bet.

Xander sighed as he spotted a small group of vampires making their way across the grass; they'd spotted the hooker he'd seen a few hours before and had decided it was time for a snack. Xander got up off the bench and started strolling over. He heard one of the group chuckling.

"I wonder if she'll give us a freebie!"

The group roared with laughter.

"Who knows, maybe she'll let us eat her." He grinned, despite himself, and heard the group cackling. He stepped out of the shadows and raised an eyebrow at them. They stopped as one.

"Well, two for the price of one." Xander shook his head with an amused smile and lunged forward. He bitch-slapped the group, smacking the vampires down and throwing stakes in their hearts. A few moments later, the dust was settled and the young girl walked over.

"Wow."

Xander was dressed in casual clothing this time - jeans and a t-shirt; the air was hot enough that he didn't really need anything else.

"Thanks." He looked himself over. "Or were talking about how I kicked their asses?"

The girl blushed… she was quite pretty. "You know, there has to be a better way than…" He couldn't finish what he was saying.

"Selling myself for sex?"

"Yeah," Xander said lamely. She wasn't bad looking; shorter than he was, standing roughly at five foot five, with short brown hair. She wasn't as large as Faith, but still had a pretty face.

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

2007

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

"Harris!"

Xander looked over at the soldier sitting beside him; they were covered in dirt, filth and some kind of alien mud. The soldier, whose helmet was askew, didn't look particularly happy.

"Yes sir?"

"You got anything with that nose of yours?" An explosion nearby deafened the two warriors. "I know I'm asking a lot, especially given the circumstances.

Xander sighed and let his senses open up. He tuned out the sounds and felt the smells fill his nostrils. There were Jaffa everywhere; lined up in the trees, shooting off globes of red-hot plasma from their staff weapons, trying desperately to kill them before they, themselves, got killed.

"I reckon about 20."

"Shit," the colonel grumbled; that was more than enough for the small unit. They had a mixture of airmen - like Xander - and Marines - like the Colonel - and things had gone from bad to worse since they'd stepped through the Stargate. "Some fucking reinforcements would be nice right about now."

Another explosion nearby caused a large tree, resembling a fern - to explode, sending shards of wood flying everywhere.

"Kinda makes you wish for the easy life doesn't it?"

Xander flashed the Colonel a grin. "Hell no, sir!"

No one at the SGC knew what life he had come from, with the exception of SG-1 and General Hammond. The Colonel and his teammates knew about some of Xander's abilities, but not how he got them or for what purpose. Xander was getting sick of being shot at and decided to do something about it. Xander spotted a way out and lunged towards the tree line.

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

1997

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

Cheryl, as he found out her name to be, was walked home. Once they arrived, she kissed him on the lips and called him her saviour. She then lifted her top up, flashed him and went to bed. Xander grinned all the way home, found Faith and the rest of the girls and took 'em, one at a time.

"What got into you?" Xander grinned. He'd had to carve up an elaborate bed to fit all three girls in, and it had made for an interesting test drive, as they had wanted to see if they could all fit. It had been a success.

"Nothing."

Faith flashed a wicked grin. "You only get that horny when you kill something."

"Took out a group of vampires and saved a damsel in distress."

"Fuck her?"

Xander looked insulted. "What kind of knight in shining armour do you take me for?"

Faith laughed prettily and slapped him playfully on the chest. Buffy had gone to see her father and Kendra was patrolling the grounds with Wesley and Diana. Currently, there was no need for a second Slayer. Since the Master's death, and the permanent grinding of his bones, the front had been quiet. Even Spike was nowhere to be seen, which, for the moment, was good news.

Xander had dealt with a number of issues since Buffy left; one of them included talking to a couple of geeks, Chris and Eric, who had tried to dig up body parts of cheerleaders. It had grossed Xander out before and it grossed him out now.

He'd also infiltrated the secret snake club, when he'd overheard them making preparations to evoke a powerful primal power, Shnissugah. Xander laughed when the power had turned out to be about ten-centimetres long and had sat there on the computer desk, complained about everything and insulted the nerds.

Hopefully, this time around - with Angel forewarned - there would be no repeat of Angelus. Emphasis on the 'hopefully' part.

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

2007

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

The most telling part about Xander having accomplished his goal, was the silence; the small unit almost seemed to sigh as a 'Jaffa, Kree!' could be heard, and then nothing.

Xander reappeared with a staff weapon and a Zat, tied to his belt. He had a big, shit-eating grin on his face as he walked over and pulled the Colonel to his feet. Standing back, he saluted. "Sir. All Jaffa taken care off, sir."

"Harris," the Colonel smirked and shook his head. "Let's get the hell out of here."

"Aye," one of the Marines agreed with a grin. They had achieved their goal, having got the ZPM from the cave, only to have been ambushed by Ba'al's Jaffa. Now, they made their way back to the DHD. The brown-haired lieutenant punched the buttons and waited for the Stargate to whirl to life. When the wormhole was established, Colonel Everett sent his signal and waited.

They walked up and, with a last glance at the planet, made their way through. Debriefing was easy enough, then they were then taken to the infirmary where everyone was checked over and given the all clear.

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

1997

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

The four of them stood in the kitchen; Faith wearing a t-shirt and nothing else; Amy and Willow in similar attire.

He couldn't help but thinking that, for the moment, life was good.


	3. Rise of the Shadow

I'd just like to say a big thank you to Fan Fiction for taking away the ability to do our own breaks in the story, this is yet another right taken away from the authors without telling us. I thought I was going mad when I uploaded yesterday, appears I'm not, if any of my other stories have the breaks taken out, its not me its the darned website.

This chapter is for Allyndra Sci, my former beta.

Twice Lucky

Divergence

Chapter 2: Rise of the Shadow

* * *

"Are you sure you want to go ahead and do this?" Ethan was standing in Giles' house with folded arms and a very large scowl. He still wasn't happy with Harris and how he had handled the whole Eyghon 'thing'; calling Angel to solve every simple little problem because they didn't want a certain Slayer knowing about their certain little past - and super-human abilities - was not the best way of doing things.

Okay, so he had to admit that the vampire had saved him and, yes, he did now owe said vampire for saving his butt – as did the rest of the old crew, who were also now in said vampire's debt - and, in extension Xander's - but that still didn't make it right.

A small part of Ethan fully admitted that it had been highly entertaining watching Angel and Eyghon battle it out; hell, even Xander had brought popcorn along. The only bad part of the confrontation had been the fact that the popcorn was sugared.

Americans!

No bloody taste…

The least Xander could've done was given him forewarning - that was the part that he didn't like: not being 'in the know.' Xander had simply scowled and remarked that, now, Ethan knew how he had felt in the previous timeline.

Set and match.

The young man nodded and pulled one of the dark pieces of an Oreo off and popped it into his mouth, then scraped off the white with his teeth and the last remaining piece followed suit. Ethan stuck out his tongue.

"Yeah," Xander nodded. He'd gone through Ethan's shop and had 'uhm'd and 'ah'd at all of the various costumes, deciding which ones to pick. Eventually, he'd settled on the allure of the Shadow, the being who could use telepathy to cloak the minds of his enemies. That would come in handy.

"If you're absolutely sure?"

Xander flashed a 'don't worry' look; after all, this was the Hellmouth. What could possibly go wrong? Ethan sighed and nodded.

"Yes, I'm one hundred percent sure; the night needs the Shadow. Besides, it'll be fun." Ethan smiled at the kid and agreed whole-heartedly. It would be a good night.

* * *

The next day

* * *

"Ah, excellent, Mr Harris." The small, snotty and arrogant son of a bitch who deemed to call himself a human being walked up to Xander, Willow and Buffy. "Being the responsible one of the group, I expect you to help and take control tonight."

"I thought we were supposed to volunteer."

"You are," Snyder said with a big sneer. He handed the clipboard to Xander with a nasty smile. The timeline, it turned out, was trying to revert back to normal. Some of the things that were happening then, were happening now. For instance: the arrival of Jenny Calendar and, now, Snyder. While Flutie hadn't been viciously eaten, he had suffered a mental breakdown and had taken some time off - which was a pity, as Xander had grown to like the man.

Snyder, on the other hand, was the same in this universe as he was the last: a nasty piece of work. Xander sighed, took the clipboard of him and signed his name; at least this now gave him the excuse he needed to get the costume.

"Excellent," Snyder nodded, mostly to himself. "Perhaps between you and Miss Rosenberg, we can keep that delinquent Miss Summers under control. There's no way I'm letting her burn down my school."

And with that, Snyder turned around on his heel and stomped off, barking at other students and making them sign the form. Xander turned around and looked at Buffy; the blonde rolled her eyes and shrugged her shoulders.

* * *

That afternoon

* * *

Xander stood a little to the back as Faith perused the costumes, while Buffy and Willow made their choices. Willow was, as in the previous timeline, going with the ghost outfit. Buffy was lecturing her about showing off, but Xander knew better: they would have a far greater tactical advantage if Willow could walk through walls. Kendra and Faith weren't dressing up, and Giles had scoffed at the idea.

"Certainly not. They do not attend your school, Buffy, and therefore, are not bound by the school rules, as you are," he had mused. "And besides, should anything go wrong, it doesn't hurt to have another Slayer, or two, handy."

Buffy scowled at the man. "I thought you said 'nothing happens on Halloween.'"

"Miss Summers," Giles said in his school teacher tone. "May I remind you that this is the Hellmouth and that anything can happen, ergo, it is better to err on the side of caution."

Ethan was putting on the show, remarking how she looked like the hidden princess, and caught Xander watching from the shadows and winked. The costumes were chosen, tried on and tested. Xander had his wrapped up and they made their way home.

Faith smiled as he had walked down the stairs wearing the Shadow outfit; Xander had to admit that it felt right, like he had come home.

"Who knows?"

Xander smiled. "The Shadow knows."

They left the house and went to Buffy's, where they collected the Slayer and Willow. They met up with their assigned kids and started knocking on doors.

* * *

Ethan's shop

* * *

Giles stood in the back room with Ethan, the two men staring at each other. "So, you did this before?" Ethan nodded slowly.

"Yes, I had planned on coming to Sunnydale and casting a little chaos."

Giles mused, which meant that one of them had found out that he was performing the spell and had put a stop to it. Naturally, that meant Giles.

Ethan's smile was enough, he, too, had figured that out.

"Ready, Ripper?"

"As I'll ever be…"

"Quite," Ethan quipped, he looked at the statue of Janus and grinned. Ethan walked up to the statue and knelt down in front of it, as though in prayer. Clasping his hands together and wincing in pain, when he pulled them apart, blood started flowing freely.

Giles stood in the darkest corner of the room, at the back, and watched silently, fascinated by the display, a small smile on his otherwise impassive face.

"The world that denies thee, thou inhabit."

With two fingers placed together, Ethan dabbed them in his right hand and slowly, deliberately, his left hand smeared the blood over his right eyelid.

"The peace that ignores thee..." He repeated the process in the opposite manner, both his eyelids were covered in his own blood as a testament to his God. "Thou corrupt."

Xander looked up in his costume as the kids knocked on the door; he could feel the power in the air, the magik building slowly under the surface. He could hear laughter - deep, hollow and echoing - in his mind.

He dabbed the blood from his left hand with his right middle finger again and smeared a cross onto his forehead. "Chaos, I remain, as ever, thy faithful, degenerate son."

* * *

Outside

* * *

Immediately, there was chaos. It erupted everywhere across town as a multitude of costumes became alive: ghosts and goblins, gargoyles and robots, even cats were seen roaming and a witch's laughter could be heard, echoing in the moonlight.

Willow blinked and looked down at herself; realising that she had become a ghost, she saw the two individuals by her side - one, a frightened woman, who jumped and shrieked and the other, a very confused individual in a hat, cloak and suit.

"Lamont Cranston?"

The figure, who seemed much taller than Xander had been, whirled around at the sound of his name. He blinked and, suddenly, a different face appeared; a longer nose, greyer eyebrows and a hardier face, in general.

"How do you know my name?"

The form seemed to get larger as the shadows wrapped around him. Lamont went for her and plunged, much to his surprise, through her. "I know who you are because you aren't who you are."

Lamont was now even more confused than before. He sat and looked at the red-headed girl. "I do not understand."

He didn't understand, that much was true, and although he couldn't read the girl's mind - which, in itself, was something of a conundrum - he got the idea that she knew quite a bit about what was going on. Lamont picked himself up off the ground.

"For all intents and purposes, you are Lamont Cranston," the girl stated. "But you aren't; you're a spirit, occupying the host's body. Your body belongs to a close friend of mine called Alexander Harris, or Xander, as he prefers."

He didn't know what to believe - she had to be lying - and, yet, the chaos around him said otherwise: creatures running about growling and snarling; strange looking buildings, some he recognised and some he didn't; cars that looked so different, they had to be out of one of those futuristic comic books he'd read. He sighed.

"You have telepathy. Look into the host's mind and find the truth."

The Shadow, Lamont Cranston, did as ordered, sinking into the mind, past his own memories, and deeper still. When he went past the veil, he stumbled upon something that was staggering; something that was so far beyond him and everyone around him that it called to him and demanded he do something. Lamont was dead, long since buried in the myths of the past and reduced to a radio show. Lamont didn't know what was worse: the fact that he had been reduced to a mere comic book character, or the fact that evil pervaded every corner of the known world.

He shivered and looked at the red-headed girl, with her knowing eyes, and nodded once. The Shadow was needed - no, more than that - a hero was needed, and while he would only be truly alive for one night, it would be enough to set a string of events into motion.

Lamont smiled and laughed. It was a laugh that was deep and echoed throughout the streets; people looked his way and cringed back from the harshness of reality. "Tonight, the shadows will rise and the truth shall be known."

Willow beamed and blinked as, suddenly, Lamont was gone. She only hoped that she was doing the right thing.

Lamont decided that the best course of action was to minimize the damage as quickly as possible, which meant doing what he was doing now: going around and diverting problems, sinking into the minds of the victims and directing them elsewhere.

He kept away from the two Slayers who were helping, and the two Watchers; he even caught sight of the Technopagan running interference. It was then that he spotted him: Spike was standing near an alleyway with a fearful look.

* * *

The same time

* * *

"Oh bollocks..."

This was not good, not good at all. On several occasions, Spike had attempted to attack the little bitch of a Slayer, and had been beaten back fiercely. Then the Master had been vanquished and there were three.

Three Slayers… in his hundred-plus years as a vampire, he'd never seen three at one time. This, he knew, was cause for concern. And now, now Drusilla had gone and done this. The age-old crazy cow had gone and done it and he was now knee-deep in it.

"_What have you done_?" Spike flinched at a voice he'd heard once, a long time ago, recognising it now, he whirled around in a defensive posture, hoping to catch the man off-guard.

The woman he had loved for so long - the girl that Angel had driven insane and then turned - was rocking gently in the alley, a small child clutched in her arms. This was not good; this would bring down the full wrath of the Slayers, and that blue demon-thing that always lurked around. He was in deep shit and it stank.

"So pretty," the vampress cooed over the dead body of a small girl. "Crying for her mother, she's all better now." Her fingers gently pulled at a stray lock of blond hair. He was going to have to cover this one up, hide the body and hope that Dru hadn't turned her.

"Did you think that I wouldn't _know_?"

Spike lurched into the alleyway and freaked out as a voice - so low it was a whisper - spoke in his ear. He morphed his face and raised his fists, ready to fight.

"Did you think I wouldn't find out?" Spike twitched towards the sound of the voice and lashed out, the darkness of the alley almost engulfing them. It was a good thing he had better eyesight than when he'd been a human. "An innocent; worse, a _child_."

"Who the bloody hell are you?"

"I think you know." Again, it was in a different ear. Spike whirled around, the leather jacket he'd taken from a Slayer so long ago, flapping in the wind.

"Impossible... you're dead."

He said it with finality. "Am I?" came a response, the laugh - a deep, echoing laugh that pervaded his very senses - lit up the alley. "You fear me, William. You fear what I _know_."

"I don't fear anything, I'm William the Bloody!" The laugh, this time, was mocking.

"I've killed armies, William; torn them apart with my bare hands." Again, the laugh. "You're nothing before me."

And then he was there, in all his glory - the shadows themselves, running away in fear as his long cape flapped about in the wind behind him… Hell, even the face looked the same; never a day older than William remembered. His hat, the long, black trenchcoat and even the red scarf were there… Yeah, it was him all right.

The man walked forward and looked down at Dru with disgust clearly in his eyes. He held out his hand and closed it; upon reopening it, a stake appeared. Spike took a step back.

"You know what you have to do, William."

"No," Spike shook his head.

"Do it," the Shadow demanded. "If you don't, I will."

Spike took the stake with shaking hands and clasped it close to his dead heart. Looking at the Shadow with a mixture of fear and anger, he walked over to Dru, who was still holding the child. Gently, he took the girl from her and placed her on the ground, then pulled Drusilla into his arms, holding her for the last time.

"Sing to me, William…" He whispered in her ear, singing a song he'd heard hundreds of years ago. When he was done, he plunged the stake in to Dru's heart. A single tear escaped his eye as the dust splashed all about him.


	4. Redemption

I give you warning, this chapter has not been beta'd, anyone feeling up to the task as I lost my current beta, im or email me and let me know!

This chapter is written with the author's permission, to see the full-uncompleted story (hint hint) see Hunter by Psykosama.

Twice Lucky

Divergence

Chapter 3: Redemption

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

"For as long as you have remembered, you have struggled against your own black heart." Xander looked up at the bald-headed child, the Tulku, and grimaced. "Every man pays a price for redemption, this is yours."

"I'm not looking for redemption," Xander spat out him as he crawled backwards across the temple floor.

The Tulku smiled.

"You have no choice," he chuckled. "You will be redeemed, as I will teach you to use your black shadow to fight evil."

Xander smirked and grabbed the knife that he'd been edging toward; stupid Tuku, leaving a weapon lying around. Xander stood up, started toward the child and stopped.

"I wouldn't do that."

Even as the Tulku spoke, the knife started spinning around in his hand; then stopped, opened its mouth and leapt from his grasp, flying into the air - spinning around a few times and lifting up - before diving for Xander. The knife then impaled itself into Xander's leg. He let out a howl of pain as it pulled out, and he fell to the floor. It was fortunate that he had quick reflexes, as the knife then went for his balls; he spread his legs out and watched as the demonic dagger cracked into the floor, sending splinters of wood flying out everywhere.

With his bloodied hands he pulled it out and held onto it for dear life. The knife, he now knew, was alive; its eyes opened and it snarled viciously at him with a mouthful of sharp needles. It then bit down on his hand, hard enough to draw blood

He played a game of deadly dodgeball as it slashed through the curtains. He dodged, ducked and backed up to one of the pillars in the room; the knife had him cornered. It stopped and snarled at him again.

"Potu!"

The demonic knife paused and looked at its' master, then back to Xander and started to edge closer.

"Potu!" the Master ordered it, a bit harsher this time. The knife snarled unhappily and flew into the Tuku's waiting hand.

Xander let out a breath of air he didn't realize he'd been holding. "Am I in Hell?"

The Master cocked his head and, with a small smirk, looked at him. "Not yet."

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

The events of the night before had large ramifications for everyone involved. Xander now had limited telepathy, which he claimed was getting stronger by the minute. This, naturally, pushed Buffy even further away; Spike had disappeared as, apparently, Lamont had given him orders to dispose of the Judge's parts, as part of his redemption.

He remembered everything. Lamont had burned his own memories - as the Shadow and before - deep into Xander's memories. Buffy now avoided Xander like the plague, which suited him just fine.

Ethan had been quiet recently, which had worried Xander. Ethan, when asked, waved it off and said that he was thinking. It wasn't until that evening that the Chaos Mage came to Xander and put forward the proposal.

Xander ran through the list of modifications that had been done to him in the previous timeline and asked why.

"So far," Ethan mused, "You've been doing everything on impulse; the Hyena has been controlling your hormones and, every time you see a girl, you get horny and want to bugger her."

Xander nodded and let Ethan continue.

"You have a primal spirit tied to your soul, the memories of a solder, small abilities of a fish man and the powers and memories of the Shadow." Xander nodded slowly. "But, you're not able to access any of them without concentration or control."

Again, Xander nodded. Normally, he had to look at something militaristic before he was able to remember what it was and how to use it - even with the memory modification that Willow had caste on him before left.

"I say we use them all." Ethan's grin grew wicked. "Imagine the possibilities: the bloody vampires wouldn't know what hit them."

A small, nasty smile spread across Xander's face.

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

"You killed Dru." Spike was sitting on a headstone - had been for hours - simply looking out into the night air, watching the stars twinkle. Spike didn't even bother turning around; he knew it was Angel and, quite frankly, didn't give a crap.

"Yeah."

Angel sighed at the stoic response and nodded. Killing one's Sire was heavy stuff. Angel walked up and stood next to Spike, looking up toward the night sky. "Did you get rid of the Judge?"

"Yeah," Spike sighed. "Didn't see any point in having him around after Dru was gone."

"Point."

Spike smirked sadly. Angel nodded.

"Redemption's a heavy thing."

Spike grunted. "Ain't never asked for it."

"You think I did?" Spike didn't have an answer to that.

Spike grunted…

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

"T_he world that denies thee, thou inhabit.  
The peace that ignores thee, thou corrupt.  
Chaos. I remain, as ever, thy faithful, degenerate son."_

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

"So, what now?"

Angel shrugged his shoulders. "We could keep on fighting each other and, eventually, you'll get staked like Dru and Darla. Or we could join forces."

Spike looked sideways at Angel. "Like the old times?"

Angel's smirk grew. "Yeah."

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

_"With the spirit of the soldier,  
Born from thy power,  
Let him be a master of war.  
May this rifle, be thy guide!"_

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

"So, what do you say?"

Spike pulled out a cigarette and popped it in his mouth, rolling it around in his lips before flicking open a lighter. Bringing it up, he cupped his hands and lit the cigarette. After a few moments, he breathed in, held it and puffed smoke out of his nose.

"Sure, why not," he said with a cocky grin. Spike jumped off the headstone and shoved a hand in a pocket, joining Angel as they walked into the night.

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

_"With the spirit of the Hyena,  
Born of deepest Africa,  
Let him be leader of the pack,  
May this fur, be thy guide!"_

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

_"With the power of the Gill Man,  
Born of the depths of the human mind,  
Let him be the most deadly of hunters,  
May this spirit be thy guide!"_

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

"Here's the deal," Giles said as he watched the two vampires. Together, they'd been the scourge of old England; standing together, now he could fully understand why. "You will not kill any humans unless I say so; you will not harm anyone unless I say so. Do, and I will kill you."

Spike frowned and looked at Angel, who nodded ever so slowly.

"Fine, I can live with that."

Giles looked at Spike a moment longer, the small bit of Ripper gleaming through, but Spike kept eye contact. After a moment's silence, Giles nodded and stepped back. "Come in."

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

"_With the Hat of the Shadow,_

_Born from the depths of a dark mind,_

_Let him cloud the minds of his enemies_

_May this hat, be thy guide!"_

Xander could feel the power surging through his veins, his very body; his muscles stretched and his nerves felt like fire was washing over them. Arching his back in pain, he opened his mouth and let out a scream.


	5. Partial truths

Its been noted that this version of XH is a bit of an asshole and has come off rather cold…I didn't realise he was _that_ bad, opinions people, should I lighten him up, make him the joker, donut man again or should I stick with this?

On a side note I am in desperate need of an editor, as this chapter is un-edited, please, please, someone anyone, you're my only hope.

LeHane (Faith) and Young (Kendra) are considered the canonical surnames for the two Slayers.

Twice Lucky

Divergence

Chapter 5: Partial truths

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

This explained a lot of things, Buffy Summers had noticed how differently everyone had been acting. Willow had fallen head over heals for Xander and the two had become a couple. She had then spotted Xander and Faith together and had confronted Willow about it.

Buffy had been even more surprised when Willow had known, saying that Xander had actually come and asked her first, before doing anything with Faith. This was startling, she'd gone straight to Giles, citing that Xander had been taken over.

She'd been right, but not how she'd thought. Giles had admitted that yes Xander was possessed but in a good sense, the Hyena spirit was tangled in his soul and it was helping Xander gain the confidence he'd so desperately sought before.

She'd demanded, _demanded_, that he perform an exorcism, and to her shock and surprise Giles had put his foot down and said a straight 'no'.

"If anything happens, if he hurts anyone I will deal with it personally." After that, she'd been too shocked with her Watchers grim look to argue anymore.

For the moment however, he hadn't hurt anyone, she'd watched, carefully waiting for any signs of abuse and seen none. She decided to let it slide, but still kept a discreet eye on him. And then Harmony had joined the group, now that choice had been interesting.

The blonde was not as tall as Xander, but was drop dead gorgeous, she had firm, large… she sighed as she watched him, watched how he acted around them and almost craved that sort of attention. She kept hoping that Angel would get the hint, but the stubborn vampire was keeping his distance.

She had attempted to date several guys, but none of them had truly met up to her standards, Owen had become addicted to the thrill of her life and handed really liked her, she'd practically given up after that, deciding that dating was disastrous.

Which had led her up to this point in time, sitting in the room with Giles, Ethan, Diana and even Wesley. She felt like she was going to be reprimanded.

They all looked at each other before Giles took the lead, "We felt that Mr Harris didn't have much self control, he has now three women in his little harem and had plans on adding more."

Ethan's lips twitched.

"So, Mr Rayne came up with a plan to give him more self control and more power, thus giving you an adequate ally."

Buffy raised her eyebrows in shock.

"The spell Ethan used gave him several gifts."

Ethan took the lead, "The power of the Shadow, telepathy and small amount of telekinetic control, more control over the Hyena's abilities, which are heightened senses, speed and strength," Ethan paused to let Buffy soak up the information, she nodded for him to continue. "And military knowledge, _full_ military knowledge."

Xander had remarked the other day to Ethan how he could build an F15 if he wanted to. She was quiet for a long moment before she fixed them each with a look, to their credit no one turned away, not even Wesley.

"You all decided to do this without informing me?"

"The decisions of the Watchers are not your concern."

"_Wesley_…" Giles snapped at him, Buffy had never seen him go stern on another watcher and was pleased. Giles turned to Buffy, "Yes, but, as Wesley so rather un-tactfully put it, it was our concern and not yours, I told you I would deal with Xander, and this I felt was the best way."

Buffy could tell from the surprised looks on the other three that they hadn't been keyed in on that little titbit of information. After a moments silence she nodded.

"It would be nice to have a break from slaying once in a while."

Giles smiled. "That was part of the plan, giving you Miss LeHane and Miss Young a normal life as much as possible."

"I wouldn't want to miss out on the fun Giles."

Ethan saw Ripper grin and sat back with a sigh, glad it had all, for the moment, gone to plan.

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

Xander had brought her home to his house, Marcy's single mother, much to Marcy's surprise had been there.

"Who was that man," she had asked.

"Harry Vincent," and nothing more had been said on the subject. Her mother had let out an excited squeal and had pulled Marcy into a hug. She'd then looked between the two, Xander and Marcy and beamed proudly.

They'd then sat down and chatted, Xander keeping the flow of conversation between the two women, which meant that Marcy was brought up to speed with everything. Marcy's mother had received a shock, when after a moment's concentration Marcy vanished and then reappeared with a big grin.

"So that's who I felt in the shower room."

Marcy blushed and looked away embarrassed.

She was introduced to the small harem, even Cordellia (who was not part of the harem) who she despised was there. The two had been less than friendly to each other, even to the point of cold, but she hadn't had the vengeful feelings she'd had at the beginning of the summer, all she felt was how poor and stupid the girl was.

She was introduced to Harmony who looked her over and flashed Xander a wicked grin. Marcy blushed and looked away, she wasn't used to that sort of attention.

She was taken shopping, where Harmony used her own bank card to pick up clothes for her, bags, purses and any else she might require, and Harmony hadn't taken no for an answer. She'd been quite specific in orders, and Marcy found she didn't mind following them, even though Harm was a part of Cordellia's clique.

When they got back she met Faith, who also examined her intimately, Willow joined in as they poked, prodded and stuck fingers in places she'd never really thought another girl should be.

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

"It felt fantastic," Xander was sitting with Giles and the two had glasses, "I was out there, running, but it felt like I had better control, I was able to take down a whole nest of vampires in mere minutes.

"Xander you must remember that you are not indestructible and that you can still be hurt or heaven forbid killed."

Xander nodded, he'd decided he was going to let his hair grow a bit so he could have it combed properly. "I know, but it feels so great, I mean I was never this strong in the last life, hell most of the time I was a freaking punch bag."

"I can imagine."

"I haven't spotted any sign of the military yet, but it's only a matter of time."

"You've been around the College campus?" Giles asked a bit shocked.

"Yeah," Xander said shrugging his shoulders, "Ran over there earlier."

"Bloody hell…"

Xander chuckled and downed his Coors in one go, "Well I've got to get back, got my girls to take care of."

He got home in about five minutes flat, belting it through the streets like the wind. It felt great, he felt strong and powerful and ready to take on the world. He kept himself cloaked, so no one paid him any mind.

The Army when they did raise their ugly heads were going to get a shock, he already had plans for that one, one that he'd started putting into place. Ethan whose penchant for getting costumes was going to help out with this little plan.

And then there was the Glory issue, how the hell was he going to work that one out? He hoped that by the time they made it to college and little Dawny was there, he'd have that stage in the operation ready.

He came to a halt and all thoughts stopped, he lifted up his nose, smelt his parents in bed and the girls in the lower levels. He grinned when he went in and down to join them, Marcy it seemed was fitting in quite nicely.

He growled loudly and pulled Faith to her feet, planting a big kiss on her lips. He then did the same with the other three and took them to bed.


	6. Lie to me

A new chapter, fully beta'd, thank you Michael for your support.

Twice Lucky

Divergence

Chapter 6: Lie to me

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

"Okay, I have to admit that is completely gross."

She wasn't the only one who had thought it was gross, the rest of the group who were standing around it all had similar faces on them.

"Quite," Wesley said.

"It is rather, on quite a few levels," Giles said in agreement.

"So are we gonna splatter it or what?"

Everyone turned around and looked at Xander who was standing there with an amused look on his face. Buffy sighed, picked up the egg and threw it at him, who plucked it out of the air and twisted it around in his fingers.

"I was thinking microwave."

"You are not using my microwave for frying bugs." Giles said with a slight growl, "I still have the smell of that gunk you lot put in it last week."

Xander chuckled, lifted up the baseball bat.

"Not in my house."

Xander frowned at the watcher and stepped outside, he threw the egg up in the air and smashed it with the bat.

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

Buffy Anne Summers stood in the boiler room with the scythe in her hand, puffing, panting and covered in something very sticky that made her want to go wash and clean her clothes. Oh, and she smelt.

"Well that's one way to deal with it…"

Buffy scowled at Xander and let the scythe down with a clang and a sigh, she was tired and needed a long hot soak. The young man who walked up to her and looked at the hole smirked.

"Sure," Buffy sighed, "How would you have dealt with it?"

He shrugged his shoulders, "Hand grenades work."

"Yeah, in a boiler room?"

Realisation dawned on Xander, why hadn't he thought of that? "Point."

"Oh dear, what's going on?"

The two turned to a very frightened looking Joyce Summers, who looked at the hole, Buffy and then the rest of the group. Giles sighed, took her aside and started telling her about what happened.

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

"You know," Xander growled as he slammed the kid up against the wall, hard, "I don't like people who intend to hurt my friends."

"I have no idea what your talking about," Xander had spotted him watching Buffy while out on a hunt, Xander always tailed the Slayer as quietly as possible, watching out for and dealing with any issues that might crop up, like this one for instance.

The sneer on Xander's face was more than enough to intimidate the young man he had pinned against a wall, he was halfway tempted to use just one hand to show just how strong he was, but should anything else crop up he didn't want to give away an advantage.

"I don't know what you're talking about?"

Xander let out a guttural growl, "I hate liars even more."

"But…"

"No buts," Xander was dressed once again, completely in black, his jumper, trousers, gloves. He hadn't gone full shadow yet, there wasn't any need for it, and besides if he had to, all he had to do was use his telepathy. The Shadows themselves seem to wrap around him in the darkness of the night, "No if's, you will leave Sunnydale, leave now and never come back, if you stay, if you hurt her, I'll kill you."

Billy "Ford" Fordham was pulled with both of the man's hands and thrown to the floor, quite some distance. Ford blinked and the guy was gone, vanished into nothingness. He had come to Sunnydale, in the hopes of finding a vampire and being turned, he'd dreamed about nothing but for the past five years and Sunnydale had seemed to be the best place to put his plans into action.

And then he'd had the misfortune of running into that Demon, right before he was going to approach Buffy. The blue skinned whatever it was looked him up and down and had demanded that he 'leave, now.'

He hadn't.

Just like the last time he'd gone out and watched her as she pummelled the vampires mercilessly, kicking, punching and staking. He'd determined that the best way to get a Master to notice him was to give her as a gift, a present. He'd then be turned, she would be killed and he would be immortal.

And then he'd run into the guy who'd been skulking in the woods. He didn't need an angel to tell him that Buffy was being watched, Ford gave up the ghost and left town as quickly and as quietly as possible.

He'd get his chances of ascension at another place and time, Sunnydale was too dangerous for vampires, or vampire wannabes.

Buffy Anne Summers never even knew he was there.

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

The next day Xander had at lunch time gathered a small group of students, Jon, Andrew and Warren, who he had been keeping a not so discreet eye on since the incident in the library with the large monster and the master, Larry and a few of the jocks who Larry had sussed out for him. They all looked curious about what he had to say, Xander was only going to key them in because some of them had knowledge of what was going on around them, especially the trio.

"This is the situation, everything you thought about the monsters that go bump underneath your bed, or the vampires that run around Sunnydale at night are true."

"I knew it…"

Andrew clasped his hands happily, Warren, the oldest of the small group rolled his eyes in disgust.

"Yes," Xander nodded slowly. His fashion tastes had gone a little retro, so much so that until Giles had said something, he'd almost started going to school in full blown suits. He'd curbed his enthusiasm, and gone for something a bit snazzier. Now that the Watchers Council was shelling out more money, albeit reluctantly, but they were at least helping, three Watchers and three Slayers on the Hellmouth, if that wasn't a sign to get of their fat pompous asses, what was?

"This is what I want," Xander looked at each person directly in the eyes, "We need you three to be our weapons experts, anything that can help us against the varieties of nasties that live here, anything else of interest, pass it through me first before you go testing it out."

"What about us?"

Xander turned to Larry, "You three will ensure that these three," Xander nodded to the trio, "Are left alone, if they require any assistance for anything, they will ask you and you will ask me."

"So we're to be bus boys?"

Xander's lips twitched as Larry said it, knowing full well what the jock was getting at. "If you want, I was thinking guardian angels."

Larry chuckled and nodded. He looked at the three dweebs for a moment before sighing, "You really think they can help?"

Xander nodded.

Larry smirked, "Okay I'll do it." He looked at the dweebs again, "Don't bother me while I'm around bitches and we'll get on fine."

Again, Xander wasn't sure whether or not he meant the female kind. He chuckled as the group left.

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

Oz sighed as he looked at the cage that Giles had provided for him, Xander had come and told him about his werewolfiness and he hadn't believed him, right up till the point that he'd woken up one morning outside, naked and covered in bits of sheep.

He stepped into the cage and felt the moon coming over him. Oz felt his lips quiver in amusement as he quietly laughed at his humour. He stripped off naked and folded his clothes up neatly, placed them outside the bars and waited, and later he was snarling and growling at the bars, while trying to grab and shred said clothing.

The next morning, as he was every morning, Xander stood there with a cup of coffee in hand. He didn't seem at all phased by Oz's nakedness and even handed him his clothes as proof of that.

"Morning."

Oz grunted quietly and nodded, conversation wasn't really necessary between the two men, they had such a rapport going on that they didn't need to, a few grunts here and there and they understood everything. It was like a primeval cave man thing.

"So what ya got planned for today?"

Xander shrugged his shoulders, "Not much man."

It was true, no demons had reared their ugly heads, and other than the usual vampire attacks, there was nothing. Even Spike was behaving himself.

Xander smirked, this year should be an easy one.

Not that he was holding his breath or anything.


	7. Mistakes

I don't know if I mentioned this before, but Batman doesn't exist in this storyline, neither does Gotham.

I was a bit disappointed with the lack of reviews in the last one. Oh well –shrugs-

Twice Lucky

Divergence

Chapter 7: Mistakes

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

"This suit is tough enough that it'll take punches from vampires." To prove the point, Willow had hung the suit up, with Angel standing next to it, she signalled and Angel lunged at it with a fist. The suit, the top anyway, ripped off the chain and slammed into the wall. Willow walked over to it and picked it up, holding it for Xander to see.

"It won't stand up to a hell god, or even a demon king, it also won't stand up against armour piercing bullets, but will against normal bullets." She handed it over, Xander took it from her and pulled it on, strapping it into place.

It felt good, strong and best of all light, not that it would matter given his strength and all. He let Angel throw a punch at him, slamming a fist into his chest plate, surprisingly he felt nothing. He looked at Willow.

"Magic, Ethan's been teaching me how to use magic to imbue certain properties into technology and even clothes. That's part of what I did to this, I can change the front to represent anything you want, to have a symbol if you need it.

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

Xander had found out that going into the sewers while chasing after a vampire was a bad idea; he thought that if he caught the critter quick enough he could dust him and then be out without a hitch. That was five minutes ago, now Xander was padding down the tunnel as fast as he could.

Xander had no weapons on him other than a stake in hand, which was his first mistake. The second was coming into unknown territory.

He rounded the corner and growled, there was no way out. He stopped and listened, hearing the footsteps of the vampires as they were running after him. He needed an advantage. Xander leapt over to the other side of the large stream that was running down the tunnel. He could swim for it, but again he didn't know where it led or what was in there, and besides he didn't really want to swim through someone else's crap.

He sighed and waited, at least the river was a sort of temporary advantage, Vampires were impatient and hopefully would make a stupid move. He stopped, when it went silent, listening to the noise above.

The twittering and screeching and fluttering of hundreds of bats, the creatures up there clasping to the ceiling. Xander smiled at them, all happy and comfortable, being disturbed.

The five vampires and demon rounded the corner, the big grey thing growled loudly and chuckled.

"What are you going to do now boy?"

Xander grinned viciously, spread out his arms and shouted, loudly. His roar echoed all the way across the tunnels, and all the way up to the surface. The bats were disturbed from their sleep, he had hoped that the ruckus would give him the ability to escape. He used the roar of flapping wings to attack the three vampires.

The bats swarmed around him as he laid punches into the demon, slamming fist after fist into him and while he knew it wouldn't hurt the demon long term, it meant that hopefully it would incapacitate him enough that he could get away.

When the blows stopped, the bats went back to their place in the ceiling, the grey skinned demon looked around stunned. The young man was gone.

Vanished…

On a trail of bats.

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

Word spread quickly around the underground, the demon talked to other demons that talked to vampires and then in turn to humans, and the humans talked among each other.

Soon enough, Sunnydale became a place to fear, three Slayers, a Demon Hell King working with them and to top it off, some sort of bat-man running around.

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

"You alright?"

When they found him, he was sitting quietly in a darkened room nursing several injuries that even the Hyena spirit was having trouble repairing. Willow had stopped and looked at his battered form and winced, Giles came in also and looked him up and down.

"What happened?"

"Got cocky."

Giles frowned and nodded.

"Thought I could handle it," he grimly held up his hands, which were bruised, battered and a dark shade of blue. "Guess lady fate decided it was time for a lesson."

Giles smiled, he knew that well, just when you thought you were on top of the world, and invincible something would come along and knock you off your perch.

Xander didn't say anything more and simply sat in silence, thinking about what had happened. Willow wanted to stay with him, comfort him, but with prompting from Giles, she left him brooding.

The next day Xander seemed better, his bruises were healing and his hands were better, but his heart didn't seem to be in it, his spirit seemed to be a little tarnished.

The next few months were spent acquiring gifts, he bought Buffy a nice long sword for her birthday, naturally using Ted to pay for it, he then got the machine to buy an assortment of other gifts for each girl, each gift unique to that person.

The girls all loved theirs, Angel liked his, as did Spike who for the first time in months actually smiled. The vampire looked his new jacket over and smiled approvingly.

"Y'never know, you might need a spare one day." Spike chuckled at Xander, nodded his appreciation and walked off.

Xander had smirked and nodded thoughtfully. He'd have to keep an eye on Spike, especially with the Initiative in town soon. It was funny, when he thought about it, they had never really known when the Army had actually taken up residence.

His plans were starting to come together for that one, Ethan had gotten him the Captain America suit as well as shield, although it wasn't invincible like the comics it was at least usable. He could just imagine what would happen when Riley's group gets attacked by the Fantastic Four, now that would send Maggy Walsh into a spastic attack.

He wanted to create the impression of many enemies, everywhere and all at the same time. He wanted them to be so confused that they came to them for help. He wanted to be practically begged into the operation, and then, when he was ready, bang he was going to hit them with everything he had.

Buffy's birthday went off without a hitch, Angel kept his distance as did Spike, but the girls all celebrated with lots of chocolate things and a party.

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

The car screeched around a corner, Angel in the driver's seat and Spike in the passenger's. It was a car that they had bought with the funds they had gathered over the centuries. In the back of the car were two other passengers, one who was wearing a hat, a red scarf and the clothing of the Shadow, the other was a terrified looking man by the name of Allan Finch.

The brown haired man who worked in the Mayors office was torn between his fear of the Mayor himself and what he could do, and his fear of being in the car at that moment, for in front were two of the most feared vampires in history.

His attention was torn from them as the Shadow chuckled darkly. The Shadow had appeared out of nowhere, saving Allen from a group of vampires who were pushing him around and were mocking him.

"Allen Finch, I have saved your life." Allen nodded as the car swerved, "Your life now belongs to me."

"But…"

The car began speeding up, "No buts," the Shadow stated. He held out his gloved palm and Allan looked down at it to see an emerald ring. He handed it to Allan, "You will wear this and become one of my operatives."

Finch looked at it and his hands trembled, the Shadow's hand gently took his and slipped the ring on his marriage finger. "When you hear an agent say 'The sun is shining. You will answer, 'But the ice is slippery.'"

"The sun is shining…"

"But the ice is slippery," the Shadow said after him. "We will take you to safety, away from the Mayor."

"But his plans…."

"Are not yours to worry about," Finch could see the smile underneath the scarf, the laughter in the eyes.

"How do you know what's going on?"

"The Shadow knows…" the man tilted his head back and burst into laughter, a deep laugh that seemed to fill his very soul, "The Shadow knows!"


	8. Homecoming

Twice Lucky

Divergence

Chapter 8: Homecoming

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

"Well she's got my vote," Willow said happily, the red head was sitting on the sofa with the other girls, "And by extension that also means the 'geeks'," She made quotation marks.

Xander shrugged, "She's got my vote."

"Well she hasn't got mine." Cordellia folded her arms, "She's competition."

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

Well, that certainly put an interesting little twist on things. Finch had defected to whereabouts unknown and had taken with him quite a few files that he was certain was stored somewhere, where he wouldn't be able to locate and destroy.

He was starting to get angry, and by golly Richard Wilkins didn't like getting angry. He'd lived for nearly a hundred years now and was almost at Ascension, he'd completed several rituals, the inclusion of which was the eating of several very large, very tasty spiders…

He sighed.

Soon he would be an old one, like that little demon bitch that was running around with those girls and making a mess of his nice and tidy set up. Well he would deal with her all right. He just hoped that she didn't give him indigestion.

The Mayor smiled and sat back, there was a knock on the door and a small German man walked in, he had on military clothing had white fluffy hair and a rugged squarish face. The man looked down at Richard with narrow blue eyes.

"The police arrested me."

The Mayors smile widened, he then nodded, "By golly, now why would they do that to a wanted fugitive?"

The man stiffened and his smile became anything but friendly, he looked like a living weapon, someone who could kill anyone who was mortal. The Mayor smiled, good thing he wasn't mortal then wasn't it?

"Who are you?"

"Didn't see the sign on the way in?" The man nodded silently. Richards smile got even wider, "I'm the Mayor of Sunnydale, and I've got a little proposition for you."

The Mayor offered him a seat, which he graciously took, he sat and listened as the Mayor started talking about certain annoyances in Sunnydale.

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

The two German twins had located the Slayer and her friend Cordellia, the young girl had maintained vigorously and through a string of words that they were impressed with, that she wasn't a Slayer. The twins didn't care, they were told who to shoot, and were pointed in the right direction by their boss.

So far the twins had done an excellent job, along the way they eliminated several members of the hunt, one with a sniper shot and the other through the use of explosives. The twins then tracked the two girls to the High School.

Buffy and Cordellia had been redirected elsewhere while Xander and Angel took care of the group, Xander had revelled in the hunt, letting his senses loose and stalking through the halls like a hunter, some sort of primeval creature looking for blood.

He almost imagined that it would be how the Mayor felt when he transformed. Xander flashed a grin, once again he was dressed in his dark clothing, chest armour on, face covered in camo paint he'd stolen, or 'nicked' as Spike said from the military compound.

He was also wearing a new pair of gloves that Willow and Ted had put together, they had silver knuckles and were firm and strong, and they also had a good grip, which was important if he was to hold onto his samurai sword that Giles had bought him.

Xander spotted the first twin, definitely human. The twin hadn't spotted him yet so he ran up as quietly as he could, wrapped his arms around the man's neck and pulled.

There was a sickening snap as the man's body fell loosely to the ground, he smiled and heard the voice on the radio, picked it up and pressed the button.

"One down," he said in a whisper, "two to go."

He heard the voice start screaming obscenities down the microphone. Xander smiled, switched it off and listened. He heard the trail of footsteps running hard. He found a corner and hid as he watched the brother run up to his fallen comrade and check him over. Xander moved stealthily forward and with the same swift move, snapped his neck as well.

He repeated the process, "Two down…" and let Spike deal with the man.

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

Spike found the van easily enough and with an evil smile, wrenched it open and looked in to see a surprised looking military man. Spike grinned, pulled out a cig and popped it into his mouth, lit it and took a long drag.

"You've upset a friend of mine…" Funny Spike couldn't remember saying 'friend' or evening thinking it in a long time, Vampires just didn't make them, but what he had with Xander, he stuck his tongue out at that thought. No what he had, well it wasn't really a friendship, was it? Xander didn't treat him with disdain like that demon bitch did, nor did he make fun of him like Angel did, instead he simply sat and talked. He asked Spike questions, asked for his input on certain jobs and paid him when they went well. It was more like a partnership, and for the first time in a hundred years, he didn't actually feel like eating a human, least of all Harris.

Spike fixed the man who was trembling, with a cold stare. He took a long drag out of the cig and flicked it on the ground.

"You've got until morning to get out of Sunnydale, transfer whatever funds you've got from this little game into this account and leave." The man took the paper and looked it over, "Leave the van, the technology here and if you ever step foot in Sunnydale," Spike smiled, "Well let's just say they don't call me William the Bloody for nothing."

Spike omitted the fact that he was called that for his crappy poetry.

Gruenstahler nodded, scribbled a few things down on a post it note and pinned it to a shelf, grabbed his bag and took one last look at Spike before belting it. Spike waited for Angel and Xander to make an appearance, Xander tossed the two bodies in the back of the van and chucked Spike the keys.

"Get rid of them…" Xander had already stated before hand that he had wanted the technology, Spike knew what to do, they weren't the first bodies he'd disposed of in the past.

And with that simple command Xander went home. Spike shrugged his shoulders went over to the passengers door and pulled it open, before remembering he was in the States, "Damn yanks," closed it and went around to the driver's door.

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

Giles had met Buffy and Cordellia at the place in the woods where the limo had stopped, gotten them in his car and had driven them back to school. Giles had then yanked off the he then turned them over to reveal microchips and made a shushing sound.

Once done he handed them over to Angel who nodded and left, Buffy went to say something to the vampire but wasn't given a chance as another limo pulled up, a man stepped out and opened the door, inside she could see Marcy, Harmony, Willow, Amy, Faith and Kendra, who were all dressed up for the night. Buffy heard one of the girls giggling, sighed and got in.

The limo took them to the Prom. They mingled and danced and chatted and laughed, and all in all had a good time. Buffy and Cordellia had both vied for the Prom Queen.

"Hey, guys, the moment we've all been waiting for."

Xander slipped in just as Devon stood on the stage and was starting to make the announcement, he patted each of his girls on the bum and wrapped his arms around Willow and Faith, Harmony and Marcy stood, arms interlocked, next to Faith, while Amy stood next to Willow.

"In this envelope, I hold the name of this year's Homecoming Queen."

Xander had put a lot of effort into it this time around, most people in the school owed him a favor or two, either for setting them up with woman, or man as was Larry's case, or for saving them from a vampire attack. There were quite a few rings being worn, in fact he could see Devon's.

"And the winner is..."

Xander flicked a gaze at Giles who nodded with a smile.

"Hey, I believe we have a first for Sunnydale High. We have a tie"

There was a gasp from the crowd and a wolf whistle.

Devon chuckled and continued.

"Buffy Summers and Cordellia Chase…" The light shone on the two of them and Buffy let out a mock squeal, the two ladies walked arm in arm up to the stage and took turns to give a speech.

All in all, a better home coming.

"What'd I miss?" Xander turned to Spike and nodded at the stage, "Great that'll keep her giggly all week."


	9. Scheming plans and snakes

Twice Lucky

Twice Lucky

Divergence

Chapter 9: Scheming plans and snakes, no not Gou'ald.

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

Gwendolyn Post never had a chance, she got inside Sunnydale, made an appearance and talked to Giles and then vanished. When asked about it Giles smiled evilly and nothing more was said, the less Xander knew, the better for him, besides he was eating and didn't want gruesome details.

Xander had dealt with Pete and had rescued his beaten girlfriend. Pete had suffered a nasty death, and for all intents and purposes had hanged himself. Word got around school quickly. His girls on the other hand took in Debbie, and while, she wasn't added to his little 'harem' she was being looked after. The girls were getting her what she needed, love, attention, clothes and shopping should she require it.

Xander had mused early on as to how to exactly deal with Pete. It was obvious that he had needed help, but after seeing him take a swipe at one of the jocks, who happened to be his friend, Xander had decided that Pete had made his own choice.

Live by the sword…

He'd confronted him, actually gone up to him and started talking to him, Pete had told him to back off and when he didn't he'd actually lunged. Xander sighed, and ducked out of the way, remembering the nasty potion Pete had taken to exact revenge on Buffy for interfering.

The rope was ready and with one swift move he tied it around Pete's neck and pulled with the spare hand. Pete went upwards and after a moments struggle, became still.

He'd thought about some of the things he had done, the lives he had taken. Thought about them hard, was he changing destiny? Or was he simply another killer with his seat reserved in hell? He didn't know, and had no plans on finding out anytime soon.

Still, there were lots of things he'd done that were good, Willow was helping Jenny Calendar teach the computer class, Harmony was getting along with the less popular students and as far as he could tell Amy wasn't digressing. And Faith, he smiled when he thought of her, she had taken to him and best all she hadn't gone all dark slayer and tried to kill everyone. All in all, not a bad years work, he just hoped he could keep them that way. They would be useful, he wanted Amy and Willow to train Witches when they got the Council back up and running.

And on the thought of the Council, he'd tried to think of ways in which he could warn them, had even talked to Giles, but the Watcher had deemed the Council too stubborn, it was time to wipe the slate clean and start again.

Still, Xander had talked to Giles and had spoken to him about getting some of the old Watchers there, some that he could trust, Wesley's father for one, and that hot chick who had written the thesis on Spike.

Giles had frowned. "I didn't know you had a thing for British women."

Xander chuckled, "What can I say, smart women turn me on, but those glasses of hers are going to go."

Giles had laughed loudly. "Lydia will be most pleased."

Xander had smiled.

But thoughts were turning much darker now, he needed to locate Glory but couldn't do that until he went to college. And as for college, well there was a thought all on its own, what courses did he take, did he still hunt at night-time; and finally what of the initiative?

For the moment he had more pressing concerns, like the Mayor and the ascension. Xander was pleased with Spike and saw him coming along in leaps and bounds, Illyria had reported that Spike hadn't bitten anyone since he'd killed Dru and had even refrained from causing mischief and chaos.

Ted was also an interesting tale in itself, Willow had reprogrammed him to do her bidding, rather than hunting down women, making cookies and being anal about mini golf, he was instead useful, the robot had accessed its own account that it had gathered over the years and had deposited it into Xanders. It had then used the money to buy hunting equipment that Xander could use at nighttime.

Warren and the other two nerds were happily recruiting and training people to help out with the upcoming battle with the Mayor, not many people seemed all that surprised when they found out what he was up to and gladly offered to take up a weapon. Hopefully they would have some sort of plan figured out by then.

On the bright side of things, Buffy had taken out the sleep demon at the hospital, Ker something or other, and the Watchers Council had decided to forgo the Cruciamentum, due to the fact that there were three slayers and a full team of people working around her, something that was 'unprecedented' if he remembered Giles mocking tone right. The council were however coming over to inspect the situation, so this meant that Xander and Illyria had to hide some of the stuff they'd stolen from the army base, namely, say, the big honking rocket launcher.

Pity… Xander would've liked to see Travers face when he saw it.

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

Warren stood with a very large smile on his face, his eyes were smiling as well. He was not alone, he was in fact surrounded by the nerds and geeks of the school. Larry was there to, but not in his usual intimidating form, in fact he was standing next to Warren. The room they were in was crowded and full of people.

Buffy stood to the side with an arched eyebrow, Willow beaming and the rest of the team was present, even Kendra and Faith.

Buffy couldn't help but notice that a few of the girls and even guys were wearing those emerald rings and Buffy wondered how many people in the school actually owed Xander their lives.

They started talking about all the weird things that had been happening, not just in the school but also around the whole town, things in general to the darker side of the night. Not many people seemed surprised at what was going on, the younger generation appeared to be more aware of its surroundings, while their parents, like Buffy's mom for example, went back to their normal lives as if nothing had happened.

Buffy had gone and questioned a lot of the students about how they had come to get the rings, a lot of them owed Xander for something or other, one of the guys had said Xander had saved him from a group of zombies, she'd confronted him and he had admitted that yes he'd been on the look out for a bunch of un-dead Jocks and that yes he had been out with a spade and a sword. A lot of the other cases were either vampire or demon attacks, most of the times, the descriptions provided were either him appearing and knowing exactly what to do, or him appearing and being in a massive fist fight.

One of the things that bothered Buffy about the situation was that it seemed Xander knew more about fighting vampires and demons than she did, this led to two possible conclusions, one was that he had (a; knowledge, and this meant future knowledge and was using it to kill the nasties, and (b; he was someone else entirely.

She didn't want to consider that option just yet. Xander was good to her, and while they'd had their disagreements, he'd only ever been hostile when she tried to interfere with his 'girls'. She would wait. If anything Buffy was patient, she'd wait and watch and if he turned hostile she'd end him…period.

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

For Xanders part he was pleased, the people he'd chosen had been those who had been mostly aware of what was going on, Jon for one seemed to be pleased that he was simply included, as Andrew had said before he'd stabbed him in the gut, it was his dying wish. His commands, Xander would obey, besides Jon was smart and it always helped to have a back up plan.

He knew what Buffy thought of him, he didn't need to read her thoughts to know that she was watching his every move like a hawk, as it was she'd been suspicious of him since at least summer.

He knew that she had chatted to the girls at least once before and had tried to turn them against him, for what reasons he couldn't fathom, perhaps jealousy? When Faith had come to him and told him blow by blow what she had said, Xander had gone nuts and confronted her.

'What the hell do you think you're doing?'

'What's best for them. Xander had laughed loudly at that one and had stated quite clearly, that she didn't have a clue. Or more appropriately didn't want to have a clue…most of the people who'd been told the truth had already figured out a part of what was going on around them. Certain people who hadn't been told were either because they didn't want to know, like Harmony, who simply wanted, no begged, to be trusted, or Wesley who could have deniability.

When she was ready he would tell her everything, for the moment though he didn't think she was. No, he was fairly certain what her reaction would be.

With a sigh, Xander stepped forward and put on his smile, he saw Buffy do the same and they began reviewing weapons and tactics.

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

Xander and Buffy hadn't been the only ones who had been musing about the events of the recent past, the Mayor had been sitting, that evening, pondering what was going to happen after ascension. He was going to be a demon, a first one, a very large snake with an appetite to match.

He'd often wondered what it would be like to eat a human, he wouldn't try it while was still human, no sir he was no cannibal he was a peoples person. When he changed he wouldn't have to be a people's person any more, no sir, it changed the rules.

Still, it would've been nice to share some of that power, he imagined having a slayer or two at his side, Faith would've been nice, young and perky and so full of life, and from what reports he got, she was a team player.

The trouble was, they had wrapped their arms around her so tightly that there was no way to break her free, that young man was always around her, what was his name, Harris? Willow was constantly talking to her, or Faith was smooching with a blonde girl or two.

He chuckled.

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

"Hey, Rosenberg!"

Willow looked up from her bike and smiled, seeing the other student she had been training for a while, the principle had decided that it was good for the school if he paired the two. "Hey, Percy."

"Check it out, history final." He happily handed her his score sheet, which Willow took off him. Willow had, had to introduce Percy to Xander, who he had insulted on first meeting. Xander hadn't taken it lightly and had slammed him against the wall. He'd simply stated, 'mess with my girlfriend and suffer the consequences.' Since then Percy had done his best and listened attentively, and apparently gotten decent marks to boot.

"B-minus, that's great." She beamed at him and handed it back.

"I'm a scholar. I'm like a scholar."

"Congratulations." She chuckled, "Not quite but we'll get you there. Who knows, maybe we'll get you the first jock out of here with a scholarship in both history and football."

"Hey, listen. Thank you. I mean, for helping me. Being so patient."

"Hey. History's important, you know." Willow said with a knowing smile, it meant so much more, especially knowing what Xander knew.

"No, I totally get that now. And I got the grades, I'm graduating tomorrow, I can forget all this crap."

She smiled, he wasn't one of the ones selected by Xander, ergo, didn't know about the next days events. She hoped he survived as he was a nice kid once he got over himself.

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

It finally happened, what Xander had been dreading… but he was too late. As he bounded over the walls, he saw Cordellia ranting and raving about Buffy, something she'd done to upset her.

"Cordellia!" The brunette didn't hear him.

He stretched out his hearing as he leapt over a student's picnic. "You know what, I wish Buffy hadn't come to Sunnydale, and I wish Xander wasn't so damn nice all the time!"

The last thing he heard before the world went white was…

'GRANTED'


	10. The Wish part 1

2 more chapters before the erm, I'm not sure if Climax is the right word to use

Okay do you know what pisses me off, someone doesn't like the story and leaves a shitty review, if you don't like it don't read it, and at least have the goddamn balls to leave an IM so I can explain things to them. Well er rant over.

2 more chapters before the erm, I'm not sure if Climax is the right word to use. This story is DARK, SEXUAL and NOT for the kiddies. Which, is why I bumped up the rating before.

I decided to do the Wish after its original time in the timeline, because I thought, he'd made such a difference in this timeline that it made sense. Cordellia and Harmony had a better life and were on better terms with the group, so no one would be making statements like 'I wish Buffy hadn't come to Sunnydale'.

I'll leave the reason for Buffy upsetting Cordellia as a blank, make up your own minds on that one (smirks)

Twice Lucky

Divergence

Chapter 10: The Wish part 1

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

"You know what, I wish Buffy hadn't come to Sunnydale, and I wish Xander wasn't so damn nice all the time!"

'_GRANTED_' – The girl Anya who had been so insistent on asking her what she wished for suddenly went all freaky, her skin was different, demon different.

She blinked, stared around slack jawed and sighed.

"Great…"

Cordellia was if anything, perceptive. She may not be liked, may have to be insulting to stay on top, and was down right blunt, sure, but the one thing people couldn't fault her was her keen eye. And this keen eye had spotted mistakes with the area that she was now standing in, for a start there were no people, Sunnydale High looked in ruins, the windows were all smashed, the doors were broken, some of them hanging off their balances.

The weeds had taken control and were climbing up the walls and the grass was messy, she couldn't but help think that the neat freak Snyder would have a fit if he saw this place.

She stopped, turned around and stared, her dress wasn't as glamorous as she would've liked, due to her daddy's problem of evading the tax man, as the saying went, the tax man cometh and boy did he. He took everything.

Cordellia started moving towards the school and got the suspicion that she was being followed, she couldn't pin it down but knew that it was there. She walked through the corridors of school, she wished she'd worn something a little hardier to school, but then how was she going to know that some freaky demon was going to make her wish come true?

Her footsteps echoed eerily around the corridors, windows were smashed and glass lay on the ground which crunched every time she stepped on it. She looked in the rooms and her only companions seemed to be dust balls and pigeons, who hooted happily.

She sighed and headed towards the canteen and once again saw nothing but a thin layer of dust, the windows long since broken and sun shine, shining in and mocking her.

She sighed, shouldered her bag and decided to head outside, there was nothing here. Instead she made her way outside into the street, which was in a similar state of despair.

Great big cowboy dust balls blew across the street as the wind whistled down, pigeons could be heard if she stood and listened silently. She couldn't hear, or see any sign of human inhabitation, nothing for what appeared to be a long time.

She checked out some of the houses down her own street, looked in dirty and wrecked cars, she dry heaved when she saw a burned out skeleton. The car itself was upside down, and the remains were still strapped into the seat, its hands melted to the steering wheel. It had been the fact that its jaw was wedged open with what looked like a metal stake, trapped in an eternal scream that made her think about throwing up.

She wiped her mouth, she still felt the sick on her lips and grimaced, it was a good thing she always carried a bottle of water around with her, she put it to her lips and took a sip. Cordellia spat it out on the floor after swirling it around. She sighed again, this was going to make for a long day.

Most of it was spent searching through empty houses, looking through rooms that people had long since dropped and ran like hell, everything was still there. It didn't surprise her to find dishes still on the tables with mouldy food on them.

She grimaced when she saw them and almost emptied her stomach again. She decided on a long term plan, when she heard something…a creak.

Cordellia pulled out the vampire spray that Xander and the group had provided for and pointed it at the area that the noise had come from.

Only to find nothing…

She was getting jittery.

Perhaps it was the fact that there was no one about at all? Or maybe, she didn't know, she was tired and wanted nothing more than for reality to reassert itself.

Yeaaah. No such luck, with a smirk, she went into the kitchen and held a hanky to her nose, the smell in there was just as bad. But, she needed food like now, so the only simple option was checking out the fridge, and hit paydirt. The light flickered on, but again all the food had mould on it. Fortunately, there was a bottle of coke, which she pulled out. She closed the door and checked the cupboards and found cans of just about everything.

The decided on the living room that while dusty, at least didn't smell, she got a can opener, several cans of food and a fork which she washed in the sink.

As she sat down, she thought about the events of her recent life.

She had a group of friends, real friends, not those sheep that followed her around trying to copy her sense of style and fashion. No these were real friends, people who actually cared for her well being, one of those being, yes although she hated saying it, Xander Harris.

What was with that? Now that she had time to think, to really think about it, everything seemed to fit into place. He knew something that she didn't, something powerful, dark and down right scary, and something that he had been manoeuvring them all to forget, moving chess pieces around a board in such frenzy that no one had time to think about it. From a purely tactical view point it made sense.

She looked around the house, and found a pillow and duvet to sleep in on the floor as she couldn't bring herself to sleep in someone else's bed as it just felt wrong. She curled up in a corner of a room, a child's room by the looks of it and fell into a troubled sleep, wondering what the hell went wrong with the world.

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

The next morning was bright and sunny, the birds were singing as the sun rose up and there was a gentle morning breeze. She would've thought everything had turned back to normal, were it not for the fact that she was curled up on the floor in the blankets and duvet.

Today she would explore.

She got up and looked in the woman's cupboard for shoes and once again hit paydirt and with smirk started rummaging, they truly had left everything in a hurry. She pulled out a pair of shoes and tried them on, perfect.

It must be her lucky day…

She tried on a jumper and swapped it for her top, it felt better, she then grabbed a small coat and put it on. She then went and freshened up in the bathroom. What was this? Everyone had left yet there was still electricity and running water?

Madness…

It took most of the morning to make it to the town shopping centre, where she searched through the mall as quietly as possible and looked for any weapons, eventually she found a gun and sword shop, but it was mostly empty. She found long knife and put it in her belt. Cordellia then left the mall and checked out the other shops, again she saw nothing, no sign of human activity, demon, vampire or otherwise, there was simply nothing.

"You know, walking around in the open like this is a sure fire way of getting caught," Cordellia jumped out of her skin and whirled around to see the brown, white faced vampire otherwise known as Angel standing with a very large smirk.

"Angel?" She stepped forward, but something about him set of her warning signals, she smirked as well, wondering idly if she was a slayer and if it was how they felt when they sensed danger.

"Nope," he shook his head, "haven't gone by that name in years," his faced morphed and became more feral, "Angelus, pleased to meet you."

"W, what?"

"What, we got a communication problem here?" Angel said in a mocking tone, she got it, he really was evil. Oh God, what had happened.

It happened then, all at once. There was a loud bang and something hit the floor, a canister of some sort and smoke started billowing out of it. She felt hands grasping her and pulling her away, she found herself with a bag over her head and being guided quickly.

"RIPPER."

She knew he was talking about someone, the demon who wanted her blood, or to take her to his leader or whatever they did, she didn't want to think about it.

"Bloody hell Angelus," Giles, she knew that voice. All she could see was darkness, but she could hear everything.

The two were standing off against each other in the street, on the pathway, Giles had on him a long pointed weapon that looked like a long staff with a closed flower head. It was anything but pretty, the Watcher activated the weapon and the end opened up with a burst of golden energy.

Angelus smirked and held his hand up and wiggled his fingers. "Think you can hurt me old man, your loosing your touch."

"Nah, just fed up with your endless babble," Giles smirked, aimed carefully and fired. The blob of red of hot energy stuck Angelus in a blow that completely sheared his hand off, the hand with the ring that was. The vampire stood there gaping at the stump without really comprehending what was happening. Giles's smile grew bigger as the vampire suddenly clicked he was smoking.

"Oh… Fuc…"

He never finished as the next bolt of energy slammed into his face, melted his skin and hit his brain, the vampire burst into red-hot fiery dust.

Giles swivelled around and nodded at Riley Finn, the military man who had provided the very useful weapons, "let's get out of here before more bloody backup arrives."

The blond haired man nodded sharply, grabbed the whimpering woman and turned to make their way to the base.

The hood was taken off and Cordellia quickly raised her arm to block out the light, she flinched when a hand touched her arm and tried to bat it away.

"Easy sugar," the accent was recognisable as Texan.

She stopped fighting, realising there was kindness in the females voice. She let her eyes adjust and slowly lowered her arm and looked at the woman standing in front of her. She was a small, mousy, with long brown hair, and sad brown eye's, and she had a quiet intelligence about her.

"Howdy," she smiled broader and handed over a bottle of water.

"Where am I?"

"Y'all are in the resistance HQ."

"Yes quite," she looked up and saw a grim faced Giles placing the long nasty looking weapon on the table, the young hot looking guy had a military air about him.

Cordellia wasn't tied to a chair and for that she was grateful. "What, what happened?"

Giles looked surprised, looked over at Finn who was now leaning against a wall and shrugged his shoulders. "What do you mean, what happened?"

"It's all different…"

"Different?"

"Where's Buffy?"

The Watchers face notably hardened, "Miss Summers is quite dead, killed by Faith."

"Oh." Cordellia was terrified now and looked it, "What about Xander?"

Finn flinched at that name being mentioned.

"You mean Yinko?"

"Who?" Giles looked at the mousy haired woman, obviously startled.

"You mean you don't know?"

She shook her head and tears started flowing now, freely down her cheeks, she was scared to hell and simply wanted to go home. She cried as she told them every thing that had happened in the life before this, right up to the point that she had met Anya, and then made that wish, arriving here and the days she'd spent searching the streets for any signs of life. Finding Angel, and now the resistance.

Giles was very quiet as he soaked up the information.

He nodded quietly. "It appears that you've been on the bad end of a vengeance demon, you see Mister Harris came back in time to right certain mistakes that we made in the previous timeline, from what I can gather everything was running fine, right up till Ethan, at Xander's beckoning, cast the Halloween spell."

"What happened?"

Giles looked down for a moment, before continuing. "The Shadows influence was too strong, and Yinko crawled its way up and seeded itself into Xander's soul, he then went around gathering his harem and eliminating his enemies, it was already too late before any of us realised what had happened. People started to panic and Buffy confronted him."

Giles stopped and looked sad, "We never saw her again."

"Mah names Winifred Burkle, but y'all can call me Fred." Fred saind in way of introduction, the Texan smiled again, she was quite pretty.

Cordellia nodded tiredly, sadly, this is what she had wished.

"I wish there was some way to undo this…"

She waited a heartbeat before knowing it wasn't going to happen.

"Worth a try."

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

Yinko was pissed…

Spike stood there in his chambers and watched in fascination as he threw a right paddy. The man picked up a chair and with a speed that if he hadn't known better, wouldn't have thought off, threw it against the wall. It shattered into thousands of tiny bits.

His bitches, who were all in varying degrees of nakedness cowered away from their Master. Yinko, let out a holler that was loud and angry. He then turned on Spike with his icy cold stare.

"I told you, TOLD you, to make sure Angelus succeeded, you were there to be his fucking backup." Spike took a drag of his cigarette and studied the man for a second.

"I know you did mate, but I thought I'd improvise."

The longhaired youth shook his head angrily, his long dark and lanky hair looked greasy and oiled. It was clean, he knew it was, Xander had a thing for cleanliness that was boarding obsessive compulsive. He reminded Spike of the Mayor, before Xander blew the man to kingdom come.'

"I don't pay you to fucking think Spike…"

Spike bit down on his cig hard and growled, he assessed his options here. He knew that 'Yinko' couldn't read his thoughts, so he had time to create a plan of action that would get his neck out of the pile of shit that was growing. He could make a run for it, but that little bitch Willow who was tied to a leash at the base of Xanders chair would hit him with a fireball before he even made it out of the door.

"I know, but Angelus was expendable…"

"I'm the one who decides whose expendable," Xander snarled at the bleached white haired vampire. Spike sighed and decided to get to the point.

"I know where their HQ is…"

Yinko blinked in surprise. For some reason he had never been able to penetrate Giles's mind and access the information he needed, the man was either too far away or had some form of blocking it. Something that was more powerful than his own mind.

This was excellent, this made up for the loss of Angelus, this would help him attack the base, get Cordellia back and learn what she knew and then pass her onto his slaves for training. Yinko smiled, an evil little smile that sent a shiver down Spike's spine.

"Spike you've done well." He paused a second, "We attack at dusk."


	11. The Wish part 2

I was going to do this as one chapter, originally, but it got to freaking long. So here's part two. I was dissapointed with the amount of reveiws I got for this season and I'm beginning to wonder if I should do season 3 or not.

Twice Lucky

Divergence

Chapter 11: The Wish part 2

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

"We won't have much time," Giles looked up, "We were followed by Spike."

"You knew that and let him live?"

"No choice, I would've given away our positions and we would've lost valuable time," he looked at Cordellia, "We needed to learn what you know and how to apply that knowledge. At first we thought you were an escaped slave."

Cordellia gasped.

Giles frowned and shrugged, "Its common place here," Giles disappeared into what was left of his personal library, Xander had been very thorough when he had set fire to the library, destroying much of the Watchers valuable information before making his moves.

He looked up the books, sliding fingers over each one as he read the titles, five minutes of choosing and he picked out two books. He pulled both of them out and started flipping through them. He sighed, and put it down, and flipped through the other. Nothing.

It was going to be a long wait.

"How did he get everyone to leave Sunnydale?"

Fred looked up with a smile, it was so nice to talk to another female, she'd almost forgotten what it was like. At least, she decided, Cordellia wasn't a cow anymore.

"Fear demon, he knew a ritual to bring one about…while the little critter was only tiny." She made a measurement using her hands. "He more than made up for it with his mind. Xander made a deal with him, get everyone to leave Sunnydale and he would let the demon live."

"Ah, yes," everyone turned around to see Giles carrying a large Dusty tome. "He also took out the Master quite efficiently with a rather large scythe." Giles smiled, "It was one of the good old days."

He placed the tome on the table and showed the picture to Cordellia, who nodded profusely. "That's her, bitch."

The Watcher genuinely smiled for what felt like the first time in years.

"Good, now all I have to do is summon her…"

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

Spike had to admit that Xander Harris was good at control, the kid had everything arranged properly. They had no idea of the sort of defences that they were going to encounter so Xander left the military work to the big fucking android. The half demon, half man and half machine worked over the calculations and map with a cold precision. He worked out every little detail and every little option and every little problem that could occur.

Adam didn't make mistakes and was one hundred percent loyal to Xander and his cause, it was after all how he was programmed.

They gathered weapons, Spike was to hold back with Harris and Adam as one of the Generals, while the vampires would go first as canon fodder, anything damaging to them would be shot off, per say, at the vampires, which in Xanders mind was an acceptable loss.

Next the humans would go in, the men and demons trained or advanced (Spike shivered) by Adam would go in, they would cut down any unnecessary humans and would aid in the capture of Fred and Cordellia, those were the two primary targets, Giles and Finn were considered bonuses.

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

He had it, everything he needed was ready to go. Giles looked down at the words he had scribbled down, "Giles we gotta go."

The Watcher nodded at Riley and silently wished him luck, the two men exchanged glances that shared much more thought or feeling than any words could. He was sending Riley, his long-term friend to his death, and the trouble was, Riley knew it.

An explosion rang out, shaking the compound.

Dust sprinkled down onto the ground as more explosions could be heard in the background, Riley was practically on his own as Fred had taken Cordellia out of one of the back routes in what he knew was a futile attempt.

The radio crackled, "Ripper, the tactical nuke's on its way."

Giles sighed and hoped this would work.

"Oh Anyanka, I beseech thee in the name of all women scorned..." Giles added more herbs to the fire… "Come before me."

"Do you know the price of calling me, _male_." The voice was said with a snarl as Anyanka appeared behind him, Giles whirled around and saw the vengeance demon standing in front of him. She had a slightly enlarged head with markings all over her and what looked like great veins.

"I know…"

She lashed out, a powerful force slamming into Giles that threw him over the table of preparations and onto the floor. He grunted as he heard something important crack loudly. As he got up and winced, his rib cage blew fire up his left side.

She raised her fist up and suddenly it was engulfed in flames and the demon smiled evilly as she eyed Giles, she waved her hand towards him and a burst of fire, much like the flame throwers they had blew out and narrowly missed him. It hit the wall and burnt a hole right through it, the smoke billowing out.

Giles ducked and rolled out of the way and charged her, slammed into her and made a grab, his hand found her cleavage and missed its target.

Her face twisted into anger and disgust as she went for him again.

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

Riley watched as the first set of defences devised by Fred hit the vampires, shattering their army into dust, fireballs blew out of canons and hit them dead on, the next set were little round balls of silver that broke apart at incredible speeds, ripping through them like paper.

He shot of a burst of vampire repellent bullets at a small group who had somehow managed to make it through… these critters were tough.

When he had a moment, Riley checked his watch, two minutes and counting.

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

Fred and Cordellia barely made it outside the compound before they were captured and smuggled away, Xander had already disappeared, but that didn't bother Spike as Adam knew what his objectives were and didn't need someone watching over him.

He fired a rocket and Riley Finn his brother got caught in the explosion, Adam walked over and looked down at the smiling soldier, who was looking up at the sky with an evil glint in his eye.

"See you in hell," Riley choked up some blood, "Brother."

Adam nodded and watched as the light faded from his brothers eyes.

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

Giles held the amulet in his hand with a nasty little grin.

"You trusting fool," Anyanka sneered, "How can you be so certain that the other world is better than this one."

"I can't," he growled, "But anything has to be better than this."

He dropped it on the floor and slammed his foot down on it.

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

Xander knew he only had moments to go, so he wanted to see his prize before the bomb dropped on them all. He grabbed the two girls and ripped their tops of, revealing two pairs of very firm breasts. He grinned evilly, and burned the image into his mind, before grabbing at Cordellia.

The cheerleader screamed loudly.

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

Adam stared up at the sky as he saw the plane, his sensors picked up on it quickly. It dropped the nuke on the ground and it exploded in a flash. He smiled at Finn's lifeless corpse.

"Maybe sooner than either of us realised."

Sunnydale was engulfed in nuclear fire.

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

"Done!"

Anyanka blinked in surprise when nothing happened, Cordellia made another wish and once again, she said 'done'. And just like before, the world was still the same.

Anyanka was set to follow Cordellia when she found herself face to face with a student she'd seen around the campus.

He was staring at her, his brown eyes locked onto her with a mixture of fury and anger, and suddenly he reached out and grabbed her arm and started pulling her. His strength was impressive, and there was no way she was going to break free from his iron grip.

The 'former' vengeance demon sighed as she was dragged into the school, it was going to be a long day.


	12. Out with a bang

Twice Lucky

Divergence

Chapter 12: Out with a bang

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

He slammed her against the wall and held her there, his strength lifting her small frame up at least a meter off the ground. She squirmed and tried to wiggle out, but it had no affect as his grip was like a vice.

"Do you have any idea what you've done?"

She looked at him, at those brown eyes that seemed so intense and saw something different in them. There was no hate, only accusation. She felt as if he were staring right through into what was left of her soul.

"I haven't done anything…"

"_Liar_," his voice came out as a snarl.

"I didn't…"

"You think you can hide from me?" Laughter suddenly filled the room, "I know what evil you have done, I see it in all the hearts of all human men and women."

"I'm not…" She didn't get it, she wasn't a human, not anymore, not since the bargain with D'Hoffryn. She hadn't been human in centauries.

His smile twisted, it made her grimace internally as she starred at it in its full horrible form. His eyes, they seemed terrible now, and made her want to find a priest to confess all her sins.

"You granted a wish," his voice seemed colder now, "It worked, created an alternate reality. A terrible one where you revelled in the pain and misery."

"Of course I'm a vengeance demon."

The laughter echoed around the room and now the shadows themselves seemed to creep in. "Not anymore," she stopped looking around him and now looked directly at him.

"_What_?"

He dropped her heavily on the ground and she winced when he did, his hand moved down from her neck to her cleavage and stopped there, she looked down and felt for her amulet only to find it gone. She gasped, she'd lost her power source, which could only mean one thing…

He grabbed her arm again and started dragging her through the hallway, Anyanka tried to call out for help but nobody seemed to be paying her any mind, it also seemed the same way with Xander.

Xander for his part was blocking everyone from seeing them, he'd already thought ahead and had requested that Giles be alone, and when he slammed the doors open and practically threw her in, he saw that Giles had cleared everyone out.

"Xander what's going on?"

"This is Anyanka…" Giles nodded, "She's a vengeance demon."

The Watcher took a step back and eyed the small blonde woman who was rubbing her arm. His eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"Don't worry," Xander said with a little laugh, "She's helpless now."

She looked away from Xander's cold stare.

"Should I take care of her?"

Xander looked up, momentarily surprised by the Watchers remark, did he have the intention of actually killing her? Anya, fear now evident in her eyes was staring between the two.

"No," he was staring at her again, "She could be useful."

"How?"

"_Redemption_…"

Anya almost seemed to cringe away from the words, like a vampire from a holy cross. Xander ignored it and carried on.

"She could be useful, she should attend college, learn something, and be hired by Ethan at the Magic Box, there she could pass on her talents to Amy and Willow." Anya went to speak and Xander's head snapped around, his eyes narrowing coldly on hers. "What have you got to say for yourself Aud?"

Her eyes widened. No human being knew her name. For Xander's credit, it had only been on their wedding night that she had told him the full story of her previous existence.

"Always different, full of new ideas, feared and hated…" He sneered at her, "You're in a different time now, where women aren't burned at the stake for being clever."

She still looked at him with hatred. Xander ignored it and carried on, "You will learn your place, Giles will teach you how to operate in this world."

"What's to stop me from…"

Xander didn't let her finish the sentence… instead he rolled over her. "I will know your every move, you're every thought, and I will hunt you down, and kill you if you so much as breathe out of line."

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

"The plan is quite a simple one," Xander looked at Giles who nodded and took over.

"Quite," he smiled, lifted up the book and let Xander help him unfold the rather long picture. Many of the students in the room gasped. "This is what the Mayor will become, once he does, he's vulnerable."

Xander held up a book that opened up to three pages.

"We lure him into the school, which will be lined with explosives, I erm," Xander paused a moment before chuckling, "Borrowed from the army."

The group chuckled.

"Sweet," one of the students yelled, "We're going to blow up Sunnydale!"

"Nah just the school," another student yelled, the group burst into laughter.

Xander broke out in a full grin. "It will be your job to help protect the students from the vampires, who will be there keeping you in line. The Mayor will want a snack when he transforms, let's keep him hungry."

Warren, Andrew and Jon started taking over at this point as they began handing out various weapons to the group. Xander had gone and talked to Jon earlier that day and had asked him whether or not he wanted to join the Scoobies. The kid had broken out in a massive smile and had actually hugged him. Soon after both he and Andrew had turned up at the Library to listen to Giles's lecture.

"You know, I personally don't think anyone's come up such a crazy plan."

Oz, who'd been brought into the little group blinked in surprise and looked at the cheerleader. "Why's that?"

"Well he's saying that we defend and drive off a horde of vampires and possibly demons and then run away from a giant snake like thing that will probably pick its teeth with our bones." She shrugged. "Like I said, crazy plan."

Oz smiled, "We could attack it humus…"

"Thank you." Cordellia said with an exasperated smile, "My point however is, crazy or not, it's pretty much the only plan." She said with a scowl, "Besides, I don't hear anyone else coming up with a better plan."

Oz shrugged his shoulders.

"Point."

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

"Congratulations to the class of 1999. You all proved more or less adequate. This is a time of celebration, so: sit still and be quiet.

Snyder surveyed the students, and pointed at one of them. "Spit out that gum. - Please welcome our distinguished guest speaker: Richard Wilkins the 3rd. He turned around and stared at a student, "I saw that gesture. You see me after graduation."

The Mayor walked up the steps to the podium and shook Snyder's hand, the little man sat down on one of the seats as the Mayor took out a set of cue cards.

"Well. What a day this is! - Special day. Today is our centennial the one hundredth anniversary of the founding of Sunnydale, and I know what that means to all you kids: not - a darn thing. Because today something much more important happens: today you all graduate from high school. Today all the pain, all the work, all the excitement is finally over. And what's a hundred years of history compared to that? You know what kids? …"

Buffy groaned loudly, "Oh my God. He's going to do the entire speech."

The redheaded witch smirked, "Man, just ascend already."

Buffy smirked and said "Evol!"

Unfortunately for them the Mayor was still speaking.

"For all of you it may be that there is a place in Sunnydale's history, whether you like it or not. It's been a long road getting here. For you…for Sunnydale… There has been achievement, joy, good times, and there has been grief. There's been loss. Some people who should be here today… aren't.

"But we are. - Journey's end. And what is a journey? Is it just… distance travelled? Time spent?" He shook his head "No. It's what happens on the way, it the things that happen to you. At the end of the journey you're not the same. Today is about change. Graduation doesn't just mean your circumstances change, it means you do. You ascend… to a higher level."

Xander looked at Giles and nodded. Giles moved his long trench coat slightly to reveal a long sharp looking blade. Xander smirked.

"Nothing will ever be the same." It suddenly became a lot darker, as the moon began moving in front of the sun and started covering it up. "Nothing."

The Mayor looked up. Buffy and the other students looked up to see the sun being totally blocked. The Mayor flinched in pain. He swallowed and continued his speech: "And so as we look back on… (Pain hit him again and he turned half to the side groaning) on the events that brought us to this day (another wave of pain) "

Buffy took her hat off and looked at Giles: "Come on."

"We…" The Mayor paused and grimaced in pain; Xander and Giles exchanged another brief look. "We must all…"

The Mayor clutched his stomach and shouted in pain. Xander started whispering rapidly to one of the kids next to him, who in turn nodded and started passing the message on. Soon the whole group of kids were all rapidly talking. Snyder stood up and shouted for silence, but no one listened to him.

"It has begun. My destiny." The Mayor smiled, "It's a little sooner then I expected, I had this whole section on civic pride…but I guess we'll just skip to the big finish!"

Xander stepped forward and shouted, "To bad, it was probably about cleaning!"

Several students laughed loudly. "I couldn't agree more," Giles barked, receiving a here' here' from Wesley.

Buffy got what they were doing… "And what is with that suit?" She looked the Mayor in the eye, "You would've thought, with a hundred years of living you would've at least learned how to use taste!"

The Mayor snarled something that they were fortunate not to hear, the students started moving towards the back of the group as Giles and the Watchers began moving the parents out of the danger areas.

Richard could feel it happening, suddenly all those petty insults felt like nothing in comparison to the anger that grew in the pity of his changing stomach, he grew outwards, morphing like a twisted creature, grimacing and howling in pain, and suddenly it was all over. The Mayor burst out of his suit, his body and erupted heavenly.

The Mayor suddenly transformed into a big snake-like demon with clawed mandibles surrounding its mouth. He felt the power surge through, he felt godlike.

Xander let loose with some of the garlic bombs Willow had created, they hit the vampires and spread outwards, the creatures started choking and collapsed on the ground, eventually turning into dust.

"Flame Units go!" Warren, Andrew and Jon had been on creation overtime, they had been pumping out small magically enhanced hand held weapons that resembled water pistols, they were being nicknamed flame throwers, they'd managed to create dozens of them, which had been handed over. Some like Warren were using two each while others only used one.

The flames tore through the vampires, but still it wasn't enough. They were everywhere. Xander used his superior skill to combat them, hefting his swords and cutting through them, dust blew everywhere. He had worn the armour that Willow had created for him, so far he had chest, gloves and boots.

He punched a vampire in the mouth with the handle of one of the Katana's and then chopped its head off.

Buffy, Faith and Kendra worked well together, the three of them acting like a well-oiled machine. Each complemented the other and made up for one another's weaknesses.

"Bows fire!"

The students carrying the bows replaced the fire units. Arrows shot out, slamming into the vampires. Most had good aim and hit in the heart or the head. Angel with his ring, kept as many students out of danger as possible.

Ethan used magic, while Willow used an axe. Diana, Giles and Wesley all used swords, showing of their true skills.

Buffy jumped up on the stage, Xander looked around and saw her move, "Everyone get clear!"

"Hey _Dick_," The great beast lifted up high and looked down at her. "You wanna eat me, come get me!"

The demon snarled loudly and crashed down on the stage, Buffy jumped out of the way and began moving through the school, her feet pounding as quickly as possible.

She could hear him following her through the school, hear him slithering and sliding. He was howling, growling and chasing her.

Buffy felt all of her senses come alive, felt the strength of her feet as she pounded through the twisting and turning corridors. She ran through the explosives and smiled.

She ran into the library, vaulted over a banister and looked back at the Mayor. The Mayor looked around the library and saw the barrels of diesel fuel and bags of fertilizer stacked everywhere. Buffy kept running and jumped out of a window. The Mayor blinked and looked around.

Boxes of TNT were lined all over the walls, the Mayor gulped as a hand grenade hit the ground, rolled over to him and came to a stop.

The Mayor blinked and looked down at the offending object, and soon realised what it was. "Oh gosh."

The explosion destroyed his body, ripped through the school and tore it apart. The ground rocked, shook and trembled violently. Spike grabbed one of the offered blankets and through it over his head. The vampires all looked at each other with confusion.

"Better get in the dark mates…"

"Why?" The sun suddenly came out and before any of them could react, the students started moving forward dangerously, each holding a long sharp knife or sword.

The vampires turned and ran, some of them already smoking.

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

"So what's that, we're up to two apocalypses now…" Xander said with a smirk, as he drew the glass of whisky to his mouth and sipped it. Giles nodded.

"Not bad old sport…" Ethan said with a chuckle and a glass of his own whisky.

"At this rate I'm going to have to buy another bottle."

The group chuckled.

"How many lives were lost the last time?"

"Quite a few," Xander answered quietly. "Larry, was killed outright, and Harmony got turned, although I get brownie points for saving Snyder."

"I almost wish you hadn't," Giles said with a wince.

"My conscious wouldn't let me stop."

"Fair enough…"

"Besides," Xander continued, "Whatever place in hell is reserved for me I hope they remember that."

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And now Season 2 draws to a climatic finish. I admit I was a little disappointed with the lack of reviews, but my faithful few followed and commented on every chapter. Much gratitude goes to Harry 2 for always having a comment, Dan and WBH21C for reviewing (why'd yah have to have a complicated name huh?)

I'd also like to express my thanks to Snowdove for offering moral support.

To everyone else who I've forgotten who has reviewed, many thanks and your support will be thanked by the prompt posting (sometime later this week) of Season 3.


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